FBI checks film footage in hunt for Milly

The FBI is analysing CCTV footage that may show the abduction of the missing schoolgirl Amanda Dowler.

The surveillance footage of the area outside Walton-on-Thames station in Surrey where Amanda, also known as Milly, is thought to have been kidnapped in March is obscured by the glare of the sun.

Photographic experts in Britain, who are considered among the best, have examined the film and concluded that it is impossible to remove the "fog" created by the sun.

But in a last ditch attempt to obtain information, Surrey police have sent the video to the FBI's headquarters near Washington. Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Denholm of Surrey Police said: "If it showed an image of her at exactly the right time and us able to see a car that pulls up alongside her, that would be Utopia for me." Asked about the chances of the FBI cleaning up the film, he said: "We are hopeful but not optimistic."

The film was shot by a camera fitted on a Birds Eye Wall's building near Walton station. The CCTV system at Walton station was not working on the day of Milly's disappearance and the car park next door did not have any cameras fitted despite signs saying that they were in operation.

The disclosures came as the police made a fresh appeal for help in solving the case, in which Milly disappeared while on her way home from school on 21 March.

Despite spending hundreds of thousands of pounds and having a 100-strong squad on the case, police have no major leads. They now believe Milly was snatched in a "chance abduction" during a two-minute period after the schoolgirl, then aged 13, had said goodbye to one of her friends after having some chips at the café outside the train station.

The Birds Eye camera shows Milly did not walk away from the station, leading to the belief that she was abducted by a man with a car or van.

The teenager had only stopped at the café by chance and took an unusual way home from school, which suggests that the abduction had not been planned. Milly had telephoned her father, Robert, at home saying she was on her way.

There were no sightings of a struggle or of the young girl getting into a vehicle. Checks on railway CCTV systems show she did not catch another train.

Det Chief Supt Denholm said the investigation had no crime scene and admitted officers had no significant witnesses or suspects.

The growing expense of the investigation is putting it under pressure and some officers are expected to be withdrawn unless a breakthrough is achieved soon. Det Chief Supt Denholm said it was highly unlikely that Milly had either committed suicide or run away, although both possibilities have been investigated. Police have told the teenager's parents that she is probably dead.

Police are still looking for a a number of witnesses identified from CCTV, including a man with a guitar, a blonde woman, another group of women, and a cyclist.

Two men have been arrested, one of whom has been eliminated from police inquiries, while checks are continuing on the second.